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The oVirt engine backend is written in "Java, while the frontend is developed with "GWT web toolkit. The oVirt engine runs on top of the "WildFly (former JBoss) "application server. The frontend can be accessed through a webadmin "portal for administration, or a user portal with privileges, and features that can be fine tuned. User administration can be managed locally or by integrating oVirt with "LDAP or "AD services. The oVirt engine stores data in a "PostgreSQL "database. "Data warehousing and "reporting capabilities depend on additional history and reports databases that can be optionally instantiated during the setup procedure. "RESTful API is available for customizing or adding engine features.[1]

An oVirt node is a "server running "RHEL, "CentOS, "Fedora or experimentally "Debian, with KVM hypervisor enabled and a VDSM (Virtual Desktop and Server Manager) "daemon written in "Python. Management of resources initiated from a webadmin portal are sent through the engine backend that issues appropriate calls to the VDSM daemon. VDSM controls all resources available to the node (compute, storage, networking) and virtual machines running on it and is also responsible for providing "feedback to the engine about all initiated operations. Multiple nodes can be "clustered from the oVirt engine webadmin portal to enhance "RAS.

The oVirt engine can be installed on a standalone server, or can be hosted on a cluster of nodes themselves inside a virtual machine (self-hosted engine). The self-hosted engine can be manually installed or automatically deployed via a "virtual appliance.[2]

oVirt can be integrated with many open source projects, including "OpenStack "Glance and "Neutron for disk and network provisioning, "Foreman/Katello for VM/node provisioning or pulling relevant errata information into webadmin portal and can be further integrated with "ManageIQ for a complete virtual infrastructure "lifecycle management.

"Disaster recovery features include the ability to import any storage domain into different oVirt engine instances and "replication can be managed from oVirt with GlusterFS "geo-replication feature, or by utilizing synchronous/asynchronous block level replication provided by storage hardware vendors. oVirt engine "backups can be automated and periodically transferred to a remote location.

Work is being done["when?] towards using oVirt in "hyper-converged infrastructure deployment scenarios.[3] Self-hosted engine and "Gluster-based storage domains allow centralized management of all resources that can be seamlessly expanded, simply by adding an appropriate number of nodes to the cluster, without having any "single points of failure.